"Foundation 51 was set up with that sole purpose of not adhering to the electoral act, to not be transparent to Territorians, and for that they must apologise to Territorians today," Labor's Attorney-General Natasha Fyles said.

The CLP's Opposition Leader Gary Higgins, who entered Parliament as the Member for Daly in 2012, said he has little knowledge about Foundation 51.

"I actually asked the chief minister at the time, should I be a member of Foundation 51 because I was over 50? That showed a complete lack of knowledge of that foundation and I still don't know too much about it," Mr Higgins said.

"I can't apologise for circumstances that I don't know about."

The CLP's president, Senator Nigel Scullion, yesterday said the party welcomed commissioner John Mansfield's report and the party was committed to transparency and accountability.

'We could have looked more closely at it'

Foundation 51 was established by Mr Lewis, a CLP loyalist, and Mr Mills' former chief of staff James Lantry, with Mr Mills playing a "directorial role" in its early years, according to Mr Mansfield.

Mr Mills has told the ABC Foundation 51 was inspired by other conservative institutions operating in New South Wales for fundraising and political research purposes.

"They were quite nervous about being seen to be supporting the CLP because of the activities of the Labor Party, which could be quite vindictive and be punished for any alternative patronage — ie support the Labor Party," he said.

Mr Mansfield's report noted that when Mr Lewis was ordered by the Electoral Commission to file financial disclosure reports in 2015, Mr Lewis had written to CLP management to say he could make up a "bullshit story if required".

Mr Mills said he himself was not involved in the foundation by then, but he was adamant Mr Lewis had not knowingly done anything nefarious.

"I don't believe Graeme [Lewis] for a moment thought he was doing anything untoward," he said.

Despite Mr Mansfield's findings against Foundation 51, Mr Mills said he did not think there was any need for the CLP to apologise.

"I don't," he said.

"But I think for the Labor Party the point has been made: [Foundation 51] is now deregistered, you've had your inquiry and now I think the community would expect us to move on and to draw a line under this and to start putting in some new modern measures."